disaster capitalism – IBON Foundationhttp://ibon.org
Serving the Filipino people through research and educationFri, 16 Feb 2018 07:29:53 +0000en-UShourly1Yolanda rehab tragedy: Bound for a repeat?http://ibon.org/2017/11/yolanda-rehab-tragedy-bound-for-a-repeat/
http://ibon.org/2017/11/yolanda-rehab-tragedy-bound-for-a-repeat/#respondThu, 09 Nov 2017 05:07:51 +0000http://ibon.org/?p=6520Four years after Typhoon Yolanda struck the Visayas region, reconstruction and rehabilitation is still not being felt by many of those in disaster-affected communities.
This is because the Philippine government’s approach to recovery and rehabilitation and its measurement of success has been based on an erroneous neoliberal framework that prioritizes big business interests over the needs and interests of disaster-affected communities. It is aligned with the same old neoliberal policies that made communities vulnerable in the first place. There is no promise that any calamity’s survivors will face better prospects than those of Yolanda’s without shifting to a framework that genuinely prioritizes survivors’ welfare.
Private sector-led, investment driven
In the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda, and as soon as an assessment could be made and plans drawn up, the government has pushed for a private sector-led reconstruction and rehabilitation program.
The Reconstruction Assistance on Yolanda (RAY) – Build Back Better written by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) includes a preliminary assessment of damage and losses (pegged at US$12.9 billion), pushes for a private sector-led reconstruction and outlined the guiding principle of “Build Back Better”.
The Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR) drew up a three-year privatized, corporate-led and investment-driven Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Plan (CRRP) for 2014-2016.
The RAY: Implementation for Results, also written by NEDA, is based on the CRRP and also continues the neoliberal-based design. It provides a results framework for monitoring progress and to ensure close alignment between the objectives of the recovery and rehabilitation program and Philippine Development Plan (PDP).
The latter is basically a package of neoliberal--or market-oriented--economic policies. These place social services and public utilities in the hands of the private sector which demands user fees regardless of service quality; profit from extractive economic activities thus marginalizing land and other natural resources; reduce government regulation or responsibility in rate determination; obligate government to guarantee private profits; and develop infrastructure and lower the cost of doing business to attract investments even more, to the benefit of bureaucrats and big local and foreign investors.
Flourishing economy?
Eastern Visayas registered its fastest economic growth since Typhoon Yolanda, and the fastest growth of all the country’s regions in 2016. The growth rate of its gross regional domestic product (GRDP) rose from 4.5% in 2013; 2.4% in 2014; 3.9% in 2015 to 12.4% in 2016.
The NEDA Region VIII lauded this 2016 regional economic growth and how it resulted in a per capita GRDP of Php37,261 (in constant terms), which is the highest in the last seven years and grew the fastest year-on-year across the regions.
The industry sector grew 20.2% from 4.9% the previous year. This was largely attributed to a significant 44.5% growth in public and private construction and rebound in manufacturing with a 19.6% growth from a 3% contraction in 2015.
The services sector registered an 8.6% growth, largely due to an 11.1% growth in financial transactions and 6.3% growth in government spending in construction. The agriculture sector also rebounded by 2.4% in 2016 from a 12.7% contraction in 2015.
The NEDA Region VIII mainly attributed this double-digit growth to “flourishing economic activities on the back of high domestic demand; strong business confidence; and public and private investments, as well as continued post-Yolanda rehabilitation and reconstruction activities”. It stated that to maintain and continue these economic gains it would ensure that its regional development blueprint or the Eastern Visayas Regional Development Plan (EVRDP) 2017-2022 is in accordance with Duterte’s PDP 2017-2022.
Shallow and unsustainable
But a closer look at the Eastern Visayas economy reveals that it is following the same shallow and unsustainable growth pattern as the national economy. This growth is excluding the majority poor in the region.
Temporary factors. The regional economic growth was largely driven by temporary factors that did not contribute to long-term growth and development, such as the high growth in public and private construction. Public construction comprised of flood control and road widening projects, and remaining post-Yolanda reconstruction projects. Private construction involved hotels, malls and other establishments. Election spending also bolstered growth in 2016.
Struggling manufacturing. The manufacturing subsector, which accounts for the largest share in the region’s industry, has not yet recovered its pre-Yolanda growth trend. This is despite a 19.6% growth in 2016, which is attributed to the resumption of regular operations in the region’s economic zones. Prior to the typhoon, manufacturing had a growth rate of 33.5%. However, the subsector gross value-added (GVA) decreased by 16% in 2014 and 3% in 2015.
Sinking agriculture. Agriculture, which is the main source of livelihood in the Eastern Visayas, has continually contracted post-Yolanda. Agricultural GVA declined in 2013-2015. Growth in 2016 was mainly due to increased poultry and fishery production, which are more feasible for private investments and foreign loans, than crop production. Even this growth was not enough to recover pre-disaster levels: the region still fell short of the national growth target by 38 percent. Crops production in the region has also been declining. Palay, corn, coconut, abaca, sugarcane and banana production have been steadily decreasing.
For instance, Leyte has been the top producer of palay in region, accounting for half of total production volume from 2012 to 2016. But the province’s volume of palay production continuously declined from 521,115 metric tons (MT) in 2012 to 473,580 MT in 2016.
Meanwhile, from being a top coconut producer next only to Davao from 1997 to 2011, coconut production has also dwindled according to Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data.The region fell to being the third largest producer in 2012, fourth in 2013, and sixth in 2014 and 2015.
Poverty. Despite the Php37,261 per capita growth, official data shows that poverty remains acute at 38.7% of the population or 30.7% of families in 2015, though this reportedly has been reduced. Farmers and fisherfolk remain the poorest sectors in Eastern Visayas. The poverty threshold in 2015 was at Php21,304 for an average household, which means that Php8,876 per month is needed to meet based food and non-food requirements – which could not be easily achieved by a vast number of jobless and underemployed.
Unstable unemployment, underemployment. The unemployment and underemployment situation remains unstable. To moderate official jobs figures, the PSA excluded Eastern Visayas from national estimates, and Leyte from the provincial estimates for the first years after Typhoon Yolanda. Thus, actual unemployment numbers could be higher than PSA data showing that the average unemployment rate in 2013-2017 averaged 5.0%, lower than the national average of 6.3 percent.
Meanwhile, underemployment worsened after the typhoon and only started to recover to pre-disaster levels in 2017, though 2017 data is preliminary. The annual average underemployment rate in the region in the same period was higher than the national average, at 27.2 percent. Moreover, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), investments that result into new businesses in the region yield even more poor-quality jobs.
Big failure in housing and resettlement. Though the NEDA – Region VIII determined a housing need of 56,140 permanent houses, only 16,846 or 30% of this target was completed as of the second quarter of 2017, while 11,957 or 21.3% of housing units are still in various stages of completion. NEDA Region VIII said this failure is due to unavailable lots, land acquisition issues and procurement problems.
Only 44% of total completed and for-completion housing units have been awarded and occupied. NEDA Region VIII attributed this delay in transfers to relocation housing units primarily to lack of power and water supply at the sites. Of the 86 resettlement sites, only five are serviced with water supply by the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) and only 59 are energized by the National Electrification Administration (NEA).
Poor social services. The delivery of much-needed social services such as in education and health is also concerning. The Department of Education (DepEd) has completed 1,790 new classrooms out of the targeted 2,313 in Region VIII as of May 2017. New classrooms undergoing procurement are 388, while the status of the remaining 135 new classrooms is unknown. Of the 17,335 classrooms for rehabilitation, 11,720 are completed, while 1,345 are still under procurement and the status of the 4,270 is unknown. DepEd construction of education facilities is contingent to the construction of NHA housing relocation sites, hence the delays. Schools could only be built once families have transferred to their respective relocation sites.
In terms of health services, the Philippine Statistical Yearbook 2016 indicates a significant reduction in the number of hospitals in the region. From 77 hospitals (28 were private, 49 were public) in 2012, the number of hospitals in Eastern Visayas fell to 42 in 2013 (20 were private, 22 were public). Only one private hospital was added to the number in 2015.
More of the same?
During his presidential campaign and during last year’s anniversary, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte expressed concern over the delay in the rehabilitation of Yolanda-affected areas. However, he would address this only a year later.
Pres. Duterte signed Administrative Order (AO) No. 5 on 8 August 2017 which created Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) - Yolanda that would implement and monitor the rehabilitation program. This shall serve as the central committee of all executive departments and offices, including government-owned and –controlled corporations. Duterte appointed his long-time right hand, Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco as chairperson of the task force.
Though it is too early to tell if this task force will succeed in bringing justice to Yolanda victims, this may be part of the ongoing image improvement by the current administration. It is currently under fire for its bloody war on drugs while nothing is happening with the economic crisis and intensifying poverty in the country.
At the end of the 2017, the government will also unveil the Eastern Visayas Regional Development Plan (EVRDP) 2017-2022, aligned with AmBisyon Natin 2040, the showcase of Duterte administration’s PDP 2017-2022. This is an initial sign that the current administration plans to continue the erroneous neoliberal framework for rehabilitation and reconstruction, despite its obvious failings under the previous administration.
Building roads, ports and business establishments are necessary in rehabilitating destroyed communities. However, people’s resettlement and livelihood should come first. Without a radical shift in orientation, subsequent government reconstruction and recovery endeavors may likewise feature fast growth especially in the construction subsector. But prospects in areas that matter substantially for the people and for development such as quality work, agriculture, local manufacturing , public utilities and social services delivery may all remain as bleak as in Yolanda areas.###
]]>http://ibon.org/2017/11/yolanda-rehab-tragedy-bound-for-a-repeat/rss/0Eastern Visayas now on fourth year of rehabilitation tragedy–IBONhttp://ibon.org/2017/11/eastern-visayas-now-on-fourth-year-of-rehabilitation-tragedy-ibon/
http://ibon.org/2017/11/eastern-visayas-now-on-fourth-year-of-rehabilitation-tragedy-ibon/#respondWed, 08 Nov 2017 08:04:31 +0000http://ibon.org/?p=6515Undelivered outputs, shallow outcomes and increasing vulnerability for typhoon survivors are proving that the Philippine government’s rehabilitation work in Yolanda-stricken areas is a tragedy. IBON said this in a presentation of its assessment of four years of rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery in the typhoon-ravaged Eastern Visayas.
On the fourth-year of super typhoon Yolanda, IBON reported its findings on the status of calamity survivors in a media forum. Environmental and disaster response centers meanwhile provided insights on their work in hazard-prone provinces such as those affected by Yolanda.
“Region 8 or Eastern Visayas has an economy of contradictions,” IBON executive editor and research head Rosario Bella Guzman said. “Although the region posted the highest growth rate in terms of gross regional domestic product (GRDP) at 12.4% during 2016, there was an increase in informal work, stark landlessness, and acute poverty.”
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), there was a 38.7% poverty incidence among the Eastern Visayas population in 2015. While the average unemployment rate of 5.0% in Eastern Visayas in 2013-2017 was lower than the national average of 6.3%, annual average underemployment rate – pertaining to poor quality work – was higher in the region than the national average at 27.16 percent. Landless farmers were at 53 percent.
Guzman also noted that government’s Build Back Better program facilitated full neoliberal or market-oriented reforms in the rehabilitation of Yolanda-stricken areas. “Declaring the shores as no dwelling zones (NDZ) mandated clearing so-called hazard areas of survivors’ homes and livelihood in favor of business structures such as hotels and resorts. Additionally, the land use policy favored conversion of agricultural lands to other uses,” said Guzman.
“This mode of rehabilitation has aggravated not only the surivors’ difficulty in recovery but also their vulnerability to disasters,” Guzman said. “The so-called rehabilitation projects in fact worsen the people’s diminishing access to resources, livelihoods, public utilities, and social services.”
Climate justice networks Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC), Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC), Climate Change Network for Community Initiatives (CCNCI) and Samahang Operasyon Sagip (SOS), whose representatives were the forum’s panelists, stressed on the urgency of a pro-people approach to disaster risk reduction.
IBON also disclosed its research findings at the Eastern Visayas Disaster Survivors’ Conference in Tacloban City days before the fourth year anniversary of typhoon Yolanda. #​##]]>http://ibon.org/2017/11/eastern-visayas-now-on-fourth-year-of-rehabilitation-tragedy-ibon/rss/0Typhoon Yolanda: Anong Petsa Na? (Media Advisory)http://ibon.org/2017/11/typhoon-yolanda-anong-petsa-na-media-advisory/
http://ibon.org/2017/11/typhoon-yolanda-anong-petsa-na-media-advisory/#respondTue, 07 Nov 2017 16:19:22 +0000http://ibon.org/?p=6510ATTENTION: Media practicioners, campaign officers, advocates, researchers, gov't offices, educators and students
M E D I A A D V I S O R Y
Typhoon Yolanda: Anong Petsa Na?
Assessing rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery after four years; IBON discloses research findings, environmental and disaster response centers share observations on Yolanda's year four
What: Media Forum
When: Nov 8, 10am
Where: IBON Conference Hall #114 Timog Ave QC
Interviews, photo ops available. Please cover. Maraming salamat.
Strictly RSVP 9276986/ 09254545577/ 09165314607]]>http://ibon.org/2017/11/typhoon-yolanda-anong-petsa-na-media-advisory/rss/0Four years after Yolanda: Better lives for whom?http://ibon.org/2017/11/6503/
http://ibon.org/2017/11/6503/#respondThu, 02 Nov 2017 12:01:48 +0000http://ibon.org/?p=6503It has been four years since super-typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) struck several provinces in the Eastern Visayas region. After the huge influx of aid, it may be hard to believe but a huge percentage of the survivors still live in temporary shelters, are underserved in terms of social services and public utilities, and are either unemployed or in poor quality work. The typhoon-damaged areas have not been rehabilitated much less become more resilient.
Are lessons indeed being learnt as hazards-prone Philippines is challenged to survive and rise up from one calamity after another? On 8 November, 10am at the IBON Conference Hall, IBON along with environmental and disaster response centers will share notable observations on the fourth year of Yolanda rehabilitation and reconstruction in a media forum.]]>http://ibon.org/2017/11/6503/rss/0Use funds to hasten Yolanda rehab, Duterte gov’t urgedhttp://ibon.org/2016/11/use-funds-to-hasten-yolanda-rehab-duterte-govt-urged/
http://ibon.org/2016/11/use-funds-to-hasten-yolanda-rehab-duterte-govt-urged/#respondTue, 29 Nov 2016 05:27:26 +0000http://ibon.org/?p=5875Research group IBON echoed the call for government to expedite Yolanda rehabilitation as the typhoon survivors trooped to Manila to air their grievances. Government should make use of the billions of pesos in relief funds and resources to help millions of survivors who have for three years now been struggling to recover their homes and livelihoods, the group said.
Known to be one of the strongest storms in Philippine history, Yolanda caused widespread destruction. There were up to 19,000 dead or missing, 28,690 injured and 4,095,280 displaced. Some 16.1 million people were affected across six regions. Total cost of infrastructure and agriculture damages was estimated at about Php39.8 billion.
According to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), government allocation for Yolanda relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation amounted approximately to Php144.4 billion as of June 2016. While 71% of this has been released, however, government agencies’ submissions indicate that only 53.4% has been disbursed. The overall weighted accomplishment or physical completion of projects funded by these releases was only 40%, while 27.7% are ongoing and 33% have not yet been started.
IBON noted that agencies tasked to facilitate survivors’ fundamental needs such as housing, food, livelihood and water received rehabilitation funds but had very low overall weighted accomplishment. The National Housing Authority (NHA) received the largest allocation amounting to Php39.2 billion, but the Department of Budget Management (DBM) reported that its overall weighted accomplishment was only 12.3%, with 45% ongoing and 42.6% not yet started. The overall weighted accomplishment of the Department of Agriculture (DA), which received Php1.2 billion, was only 14.1%, with 11.6% ongoing and 74.3% not yet started. The overall weighted accomplishment of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), which received Php737 million, was only 2.9%, with 2.5% ongoing and 94.6% not yet started.
The Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD) and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) have also reported Php1.17 billion in local and foreign donations and US$865 million in foreign funding, respectively, for Yolanda-stricken areas. But congruent to government agencies’ low overall weighted accomplishment, IBON research found communities of survivors who were still jobless or underemployed. Many are also still living in weak temporary shelters, in relocation sites with insufficient or no utilities and social services, or in calamity-prone areas that still lack evacuation centers.
The need to beef up its monitoring and accounting of Yolanda funds is urgent, IBON observed, as only the DSWD has in place a system of keeping track of its expenditures, while other departments have not shown any plans to do so. Moreover, the self-proclaimed pro-poor Duterte administration is challenged to fast-track Yolanda rehabilitation and reconstruction lest the survivors become poorer and hungrier than they already were even before the super-typhoon struck, said IBON.]]>http://ibon.org/2016/11/use-funds-to-hasten-yolanda-rehab-duterte-govt-urged/rss/0​EV agri neglected despite billions in Yolanda fundshttp://ibon.org/2016/11/%e2%80%8bev-agri-neglected-despite-billions-in-yolanda-funds/
http://ibon.org/2016/11/%e2%80%8bev-agri-neglected-despite-billions-in-yolanda-funds/#respondMon, 28 Nov 2016 06:49:45 +0000http://ibon.org/?p=5871As disaster survivors from Eastern Visayas converge in Manila to bare mounting poverty, hunger and injustice in the region, research group IBON said that the region’s agriculture and fisheries sector are slow to recover despite billions in available Yolanda funds. The group noted that while a significant number of people in Eastern Visayas depend on agriculture and fisheries, these sectors have remained neglected three years since the super typhoon.
IBON said that the Eastern Visayas was hardest hit by typhoon Yolanda. Almost 45% of the region’s total employed in the agriculture and fisheries sector was affected. Government data further estimates that 80% of 1.1 million metric tons of crops affected by the typhoon was in Eastern Visayas. The biggest crop damage was on coconut trees with the region accounting for 11.3 million of the 12 million total destroyed. Meanwhile, commercial fisheries production in the Eastern Visayas provinces of Leyte and Eastern Samar incurred losses of 48.4% and 13.8% respectively in 2014.
The group noted that in addressing the widespread damage on agriculture and fisheries in Yolanda-affected areas, only a partial amount of total funds earmarked for concerned agencies has been released. Overall weighted accomplishment in achieving physical targets has also been low. For instance, data from the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) shows that only 16.6% (Php1.2 B) of the Php7.2 billion allocated to the Department of Agriculture has been released as of June 2016. The agency’s overall weighted accomplishment is only 14.1% as of June 2016. Only 38.4% (Php2.9 B) of its Php7.5 billion budget was released to the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), and it has only achieved 50.7% of its overall weighted accomplishment, said IBON.
According to the group, minimal government response and accomplishment in the agriculture sector is reflected in the decline of agriculture production translated into millions lost in value. In Eastern Visayas, value of coconut production has steadily dropped from Php6.4 billion in 2013, to Php4.7 billion in 2014, and Php4.6 billion in 2015. Value of palay production in the region has also declined by 2.7 percent in the same year. Decline in fisheries is also evident with Eastern Visayas posting a 22.7% decline for example in the value of aquaculture fisheries production in 2015.
The situtation further worsened particularly for farmers when typhoon Yolanda was followed by four more typhoons, three pest infestations hitting coconut, abaca and palay, and a drought due to El Niño, said IBON. An Eastern Visayas farmers organization, Samahan han Gudti nga Parag-uma ha Sinirangan Bisayas (SAGUPA-SB), said that their farmer-members are suffering an 85-90% production loss. In coconut, production has fallen from 2,000 nuts per hectare to only 200-500 nuts.
IBON said that the administration of President Rodrigo R. Duterte should immediately acknowledge the worsening situation in Eastern Visayas. For agriculture and fisheries in particular, government should heed disaster survivors’ demands such as much-needed technical assistance and equipment to farmers and fisherfolk, a two-year moratorium on irrigation fees, and genuine rehabilitation and development of the Philippine agriculture sector, said the group. ###
]]>http://ibon.org/2016/11/%e2%80%8bev-agri-neglected-despite-billions-in-yolanda-funds/feed/0